Real stories from one of a kind business owners who started with courage and ended with successful digital courses.
This is Reneeâs
Digital Course Academy Success Story
Renee Dalo Wedding Planner Coach
“Amy gave me the freedom to make more money in a couple of days than I could by planning two whole weddings.”
Results are not guaranteed. Please see earnings disclaimer for more detail.
For my entire adult life, I was the one you would call for help planning a party. But once everyone in my friend group started getting married, it was all weddings, all the time.
The first one I did was for my best friend in Los Angeles, and I made it work with a $7,000 budget (which is almost nothing in LA). She happened to work for an agent in Beverly Hills, and after the wedding, people kept asking her, âWho did your wedding?â
So word started to spread and I was getting a ton of requests, but I wasnât really charging anyone⌠so it was more like a fun hobby.
It wasnât until I got married, that my own wedding planner said, âI honestly donât know why youâre not a wedding planner.â I didnât believe that I could compete in the LA wedding market⌠so it never occurred to me that this was a real opportunity.
It took a little while, but I eventually launched my wedding business and very quickly became successful. My first year, I did eight weddings. My second year, we did 28. It was crazy and I wasnât prepared for it.
I felt like I was so behind and inexperienced. But then I had established planners asking me if I could teach them. I never thought of myself as a teacher, but thankfully I realized that I totally am⌠I just didnât have time to actually teach anyone!
I started speaking at industry events and conferences all over the country and was even invited to speak at Wedding MBA, our industryâs biggest conference. But every time I was asked what else I had to offer⌠I didnât have anything.
My amazing friend and podcast co-host was the first one to recommend creating a course⌠and then she said these magical words, âYou need to listen to Amy Porterfieldâs podcast.â
I started listening to Amy and I was like, this is my girl⌠sheâs legit. I need this. I bought Digital Course AcademyÂŽď¸ and immediately got to work.
I had plans for a huge launch, carefully following Amyâs advice to the letter⌠but I also had a wedding literally every weekend so things were a little down to the wire. In fact, everything that Amy said could go wrong, did go wrong⌠but it was hilarious and I wasnât discouraged because I felt so supported.
I launched my course, Wedding Management 101, officially on the day I spoke at Wedding MBA, and had 180 text-ins from the audience. Keep in mind I had no real email list. I did three webinars with a total of 140 attendees, nervously made the offer at $497, and somehow still converted over $13,000 in sales.
I could never have predicted that Iâd be here with this kind of success and this much excitement about my next launch (with a higher price). Everything just kind of came together⌠and I have Amy to thank for it.
I was SO thankful to have course creation knowledge when the pandemic happened because my wedding planning business came to a complete halt!Â
When COVID happened, my intuition told me to use the downtime to create 6 smaller, more affordable, single-topic courses in order to keep my business going. Iâm glad I listened because with the wedding industry coming to a halt in 2020, I was still able to have a successful year with my digital course sales!Â
Anytime I want to make more money, I can now create something new and sell it with the knowledge I have from DCA. This can never be unlearned! And knowing that has given me a new confidence in life! At some point, I will need to retire from planning in-person weddings, so it is comforting to know I can stay in the field I love and continue to earn income by focusing my attention on digital courses when the time comes.
Total Revenue to Date (2018-2023):
$289,910
Total Courses Created:
7
Email List Size:
5,490
Ready to Make Your Story the Next Digital Course Academy Success Story?
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If committing to creating and launching a course feels equivalent to climbing Kilimanjaro, listen upâŚ
Every journey starts with one step. If the questions âwho am I to create a course?â or âwhere do I even start?â are coming up for you, know that they came up for every single successful course creator you see on this page.
Whether youâve never owned a business before, you have no idea what your course would be about, or youâre totally allergic to tech â we ALL start somewhere. What matters most is your willingness to put one foot in front of the other.
Each of these course creators started with one thing: THE COURAGE TO TRY
Ready to do the same?